New fire district expected to be operational next week

Wednesday

Arkport officials are hoping to wrap up the Arkport Joint Fire District in the next week.

Arkport officials are hoping to wrap up the Arkport Joint Fire District in the next week.

The Arkport village board, and the Dansville and Hornellsville town boards, are in the final stages of setting up the district, according to Buffalo-based attorney Mark Butler.

“There’s some paperwork I’m completing for the fire district,” he said, adding the last official step will be for the district’s commissioners and treasurer to be sworn in.

An important piece of the puzzle for Arkport — how the village will recoup the nearly $40,000 to start the district — also has been figured out.

According to Arkport Mayor Jeff Roderick, the village has spent more than $38,500 on the fire district, not counting the village’s costs to operate the fire department for the past 6 months.

Those costs began to skyrocket after Arkport residents filed a petition in March requesting a referendum on the district’s creation. The village government took the petition to the Steuben County Supreme Court because officials believed the petition was not completed correctly. Judge Joseph Latham ruled March 28 that the petition was completed incorrectly.

To cover the cost of the legal action, Roderick said a hefty bill was presented to him on his first day on the job in April.

“My first day in office, I walked in and found a bill for $29,000,” he said, adding the cost up to that point was around $10,000 to form the district.

Butler, who was hired by the village to set up the district, said the village will be able to get its money back without causing the fire district to go into debt or raise taxes for residents.

“The law provides that the costs of fire district creation are reimbursable to the village,” he said, adding the fire district will pay the village back over a five-year period.

This way, Butler said, the district does not have to borrow to pay the village, nor will it have to increase taxes.

“What that does is spread the cost of that over the tax base,” he said. “That equalizes the cost of operation over the users.”

The funds to pay back the village will come from taxpayers across the district, including village residents. Butler added the funds will be included in the tax rate for the district, which will appear on the residents’ tax bills as a separate tax from the local municipalities.

Roderick also said the rent for the district’s use of the fire hall has been set. According to Roderick, the fire district will pay $2,000 in both 2008 and in 2009 to use the building, with a 5-percent hike each year until 2012.

“After that point, they have the option to stay there,” he added.

The Evening Tribune

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